Indians Show Fight Late But Cannot Complete the Comeback, Three Takeaways from 3-2 Loss

CLEVELAND, Ohio- On Tuesday evening, the Cleveland Indians took on the Minnesota Twins in what was game two of a four-game series concluding on Thursday

CLEVELAND, Ohio- On Tuesday evening, the Cleveland Indians took on the Minnesota Twins in what was game two of a four-game series concluding on Thursday afternoon.

Indians fans had to sit through a rain delay of 2 hours and 10 minutes before they were able to see their team take the field on Tuesday night.

Coming into tonight’s game against the Twins, the Indians beat the Twins in the opener of the series on Monday night with a 10-0 victory.

Heading into Tuesday evening’s match up the Indians came in with a record of 62-49 and held a ten game lead over the Twins for first place. The Twins came in with a record of 52-59.

Following the Indians loss to the Twins, the Indians fall to 62-50 on the season. As the Twins improve to 53-59 on the year.

Here’s our three takeaways from the Indians 3-2 loss.

1.) Cookie Couldn't Get Things Going Early

The first two innings weren't as easygoing as he'd like them to be. To start the second inning, Logan Forsythe was hit by a pitch, followed by a Jake Cave single, and Mitch Garver put the Twins on the scoreboard following a 3 run homer.

Carlos Carrasco wasn't able to have a 1-2-3 inning until the 5th inning making his pitch count rise quicker than he'd like.

Carrasco finished the night with 6.1 innings pitched, gave up 10 hits, allowed 3 earned runs, walked 1, and struck out 8 Twins hitters.

Carrasco had his eighth start though this season with 8 or more strikeouts, and has the 2nd most starts with 8 or more strikeouts on the team (trailing behind Trevor Bauer and his 15 starts). After striking out Mitch Garver in the 6th inning, Cookie now has sole possession of 11th place on the Indians all-time franchise strikeout leaderboard with 1,042.

2.) Eddie Rosario Gets the Better of Indians pitching, Again

It took until the 9th inning for the Indians retire Twins outfielder, Eddie Rosario, which has become a common theme recently. He was 4-5 on Tuesday night and had 2 doubles and 2 singles to show for the night.

Rosario has become a problem for the Indians recently and has thrived when playing against Cleveland. For the 2018 season, Rosario his hitting .356, with 4 doubles, 6 home runs, and 11 RBIs against the Indians.

At Progressive Field, the Twins outfielder has a batting average of .378 since the start of the 2016 season...which is the highest mark that any player has at Progressive Field (with a minimum of 50 at-bats)

3.) Offense Shows Up To Late

The Indians kept quite after a leadoff single from Francisco Lindor to start the game and didn't have another hit until the 6th inning from Michael Brantley. Following the walk by Alonso in the 2nd inning, the team was 0-13 until Brantley managed to get a hit.

Cleveland did attempt to make a comeback in the eighth inning when they managed to score 2 runs and have the potential tying run on base. The Indians couldn't get their offense rolling early enough to start the rally and were handed their 50th loss of the season by Minnesota.

The Indians will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday's loss by sending Mike Clevinger to the hill and will be opposed by the Twins Jake Odorizzi at 7:10 on Wednesday.